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Essential to effective consumer advocacy is a clued-in community willing to come forward in support of users’ gripes. This week sees three Gripe Line readers speaking out on previous issues with BroadVoice, used PCs, and Windows 7.

“I was a BroadVoice customer almost since their inception and saw the company's phone and customer service deteriorate while it introduced deceptive and exuberant fees,” Alex writes. “After almost two years of unsuccessful attempts to port my number away from BroadVoice, including filing an FCC complaint (with no result), I came across your article. I followed your suggestion and emailed top an FCC consumer oversight official and the process started moving. I got my port within a couple weeks. The FCC told me that BroadVoice has an ‘interconnect agreement,’ which means that BroadVoice is required by law to port numbers. This should be the rule, not an exception, but apparently BroadVoice is ignoring it.”

And in response to "What not to overlook in buying a used PC," where Gripe Line reader Bob bought a used computer but didn't get its warranty transferred in the process, David offers: "If the new owner finds themselves in a situation where they are past the purchase date range for warranty-transfer terms, couldn't one argue that the sale is not really complete until the old owner (and new owner) signs-off on any necessary ‘Transfer of Ownership’ paperwork? This way Bob should be able to have the old owner sign-off on the Warranty Transfer, listing the date of the Transfer as the final date of sale -- that way he could have the remaining balance of the Warranty available for the repairs he needs.”

Worthwhile advice, indeed.

As for the discussion of delayed Windows 7 upgrades in "Windows 7 delay: The smoking gun revealed," reader Kris adds, "I've been extremely patient with HP, but am starting to feel that I am going to be stuck in a very difficult situation. I purchased a refurbished HP laptop which was eligible for the Win 7 upgrade at the end of September. This machine only has a three-month warranty. HP, to its credit, warns customers that, due to the short warranty, the upgrade may show up after the warranty period is over. If the computer is out of warranty, there will be no free support for my upgrade. However, nowhere did the company mention it would take them almost a month after the release to get the software out."